Vaeliyan walked over to the rest of the Complaints Departnt. The dinner had been ruined, the stench of blood hung thick in the air, but despite all of that, his squad radiated pride. He felt it pulsing through the bond that connected them. That shared confidence ward him far more than the velvet dining room ever could. He smiled, crimson splattered across his face and uniform, none of it his own.
"Let us get the fuck out of this place. I do not think... I will co visit, but not this place."
His boots squelched slightly on the shattered glass, blood, and spilled liquor as he turned. His eyes swept the room. Every detail deserved to be burned into mory just to spite them. Expensive portraits torn down. A chair snapping under the weight of a corpse that had crashed into it mid‑fight. The pristine red carpet ruined beyond any hope. He took in all of it and then looked directly at Helen.
"Helen, I am sorry I yelled at you. Apparently, your partner is the only one who deserved my ire."
Helen stood tense. Her jaw tightened as she stared at High Commander Ruka, clearly furious that the evening had spiraled out of control. What was supposed to be a peaceful gathering had beco a warzone. The walls that once looked elegant now looked like a butcher’s shop. Blood soaked the wood grain. Several bodies lay twisted where they fell.
Ruka tried to step toward her.
Helen raised a hand.
"Not now. I have cleaning to do. Thank you."
The dismissal was clean, sharp, and left Ruka frozen in place. Helen turned away, calling house staff in through the side entrance. They hesitated at first, seeing the carnage, then reluctantly began hauling away corpses and shattered décor.
High Commander Ruka’s expression hardened as she shifted her gaze to Vaeliyan.
"Well played. I cannot lay a hand on you now with the way you have done this. We were supposed to be on the sa team, Vaeliyan."
He stepped toward her, close enough that she could see the splatter on his teeth when he grinned.
"And we would have been, High Commander Ruka, if you had not done this. I had no quarrel with you. I liked you Ruka, I was even going to ask you for a favor, and I pay my favors back ten fold. Ask anyone who knows . I repay my debts with interest. But now the tables have shifted. We are not going to be collared by you or anyone."
He tapped his temple.
"If you have any complaints, leave a ssage. We will get back to it."
Behind him, the Complaints Departnt stacked up, poised like a pack of wolves waiting for his signal.
As they turned to leave, Alan approached them before they reached the pad. The tension in the room shifted with them. Their presence cut through the hostility like a knife.
Vaeliyan paused and looked back.
"Sorry about that, Alan. Did you need sothing?"
Alan nodded once, his expression conflicted.
"I need to give you my contact information, because we need to talk about what passed between us. Is that not right, brother?" He looked pointedly at Imujin.
"Yes. You should seek guidance." Imujin responded without hesitation.
Vaeliyan blinked slowly, curiosity rising.
Imujin continued. "Also, the tests that we took were not the sa for the boy. Do you understand what I am saying?"
Alan gave a single solemn nod.
"I understand you. We will speak later. Imujin will send you my contact information. It was nice eting you, little brother."
Alan stepped back into the ruined dining room, surveying the aftermath.
"I will be helping clean up the ss that my niece has made."
He vanished into the task, taking authority where Ruka had lost it.
Vaeliyan gestured and the Complaints Departnt moved instantly. They stepped onto the Boltfire. The ramp shut before anyone else could try to stop them. Imujin and Isol followed up behind him with zero hesitation.
They did not look back.
They had no desire to breathe another second of that sweetly perfud political rot. The city had been beautiful, yes. Too perfect. Too fake. A place where poison wore silk gloves.
Vaeliyan felt the blood sticking to his boots and grimaced.
Tomorrow, they would be ho. And a siege would be coming.
He found comfort in that.
"A real battle," he muttered to himself, "with enemies you expect, is easier to deal with than supposed allies who try to stab you in the back to test your loyalty."
The Boltfire lifted. The view of the underwater city glowing beneath the waves and the dark, endless ocean below.
Jurpat walked over to Vaeliyan, who was pacing in his quarters on the Boltfire. His room was generous by Legion standards, with a real bed, a tal desk, a dresser, and a wide display panel on the wall that still flickered with the last feed from the dinner gone wrong. He still looked like a storm bottled in flesh.
"Vael, you okay, brother?" Jurpat asked, leaning casually against the doorway like he owned the place.
Vaeliyan stopped and exhaled sharply. His hands balled into fists, then loosened again as he dragged a palm down his face.
"Yeah, Pat. I just hate this. I am so tired of all the fucking bullshit we keep going through. It feels like every ti we get our footing; soone tries to bury a knife in our spine."
"Yeah, I can see that," Jurpat said, pushing off the fra. He moved closer, voice softening. "You know I am here for you, right?"
"Of course I do, brother." Vaeliyan’s voice cracked just enough to betray the exhaustion underneath.
He stared at the floor as he spoke again.
"There is so much we have been through, and every single step forward, soone tries to cut our knees out from under us. Like we are not allowed to win."
Jurpat smirked.
"It does not help that they set their trip wires at ankle height and you are so goddamn short."
Vaeliyan blinked, then snorted in reluctant amusent.
"Fuck you, asshole."
"Hey. Fuck them, right? All of them," Jurpat replied.
Vaeliyan lifted his head.
"Fuck them," he echoed, though it sounded like a vow instead of a joke.
He pressed his fingers into his temples.
"At least the Primark did not seem to be that much of a bastard. He was… controlled. Cold. But not… petty."
Jurpat stared at him like he had grown a second head.
"No. No, he was playing you hard. Did you not hear his last line? He called wanting to protect my ho a weakness. He said he could use that to control . Support what I want while always reminding he can take it away. That is not kindness. That is leverage."
Vaeliyan paused, then groaned.
"Now that you said it… yeah. That tracks. Fuck. Even in the Legion, after everything, it is still a political ga. Hidden daggers everywhere."
"Yeah," Jurpat muttered. "I cannot imagine how Elian survived this his whole life. We were in it for like thirty seconds and you blew up on the High Commander because you could not let it go. You know that, right?"
Vaeliyan gave a crooked grin.
"No. I really could not."
"He really could not," a deeper voice interrupted.
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Isol stepped into the room without knocking, the door sliding shut behind him. The air seed to settle differently when he entered, heavier but calr.
Both boys turned to face him.
Isol folded his arms, regarding Vaeliyan with a knowing look.
"If he had let her believe she won, even by staying silent, she would have kept pressing. Again and again. Testing boundaries. Rot grows fastest when no one calls it out. Better to rip it out early. The Primark saw that. He is not blind."
He stepped closer.
"And it was good of you to spare Kaito. His family can still save face, as long as they choose to support you. That may matter when you form your own House. You are a rising force whether you accept it or not."
Vaeliyan groaned.
"Gramps, I was not doing it for politics. Kaito was just the least shitty of them. He tried. Everyone else just fucking exploded. They were all shit."
Isol arched a brow.
"That is because you killed them all in an instant. They were deadly fighters. I have seen their holos. They were trained to kill ch knights, not you. Because no one can train for you. You are not part of their world view."
Vaeliyan rubbed his jaw, staring at the wall panel as it replayed the duel in silent, brutal clarity.
"Not my fault they never expected ."
Isol did not wait. He stepped forward, gripping Vaeliyan by both shoulders, forcing his gaze up.
"Soon you will make them understand that they do not know who you are. You will stand above them. Now tell … how many levels did you get from this?"
Vaeliyan swallowed, struggling to look at anything except those steel-hard eyes.
"I am at level forty-six."
Jurpat blinked in surprise.
"That fight," Isol continued, "they were likely in the high sixties. You know what that ans. You need to figure out what your soul fears. Not while we are fly, I do not wish to be stuck in a storm up here, even if it is yours. When we get back tomorrow… you will face it. Do you understand ?"
Vaeliyan nodded once.
"You need to get to Stage Five, and we need to push you to level fifty. As soon as possible. All of you will be level fifty before the siege starts. I promise you that. Do you hear ?"
Vaeliyan took a breath.
"Yeah, Gramps. I hear you."
The door slid open again.
Imujin stepped in, having heard everything.
"I agree," he said, voice steady. "Apprentice, if you allow it, I would guide your class one last ti once you reach fifty. After that, it will no longer be my place to lead you. You will be capable of guiding yourself."
Vaeliyan straightened.
"Thank you, Master. I truly appreciate it. If you are with and you have the ti, I would welco your help in guiding the Stampede one last ti."
Imujin gave a faint smile.
"Then let us make sure you are ready."
After Jurpat, Isol, and Imujin left, Vaeliyan finally sank onto the edge of his bed. His muscles still thrumd like stretched cables. The storm inside him had quieted, but it had not gone away. He tried to match his breathing to the stillness of the room instead, grounding himself against the calm around him.
For a mont, he thought he might finally get so peace.
The door slid open quietly.
Lessa stepped inside, confidently, like she knew she was welco. Her footfalls were quiet, but the servo‑motors in her prosthetic arms gave a faint whine as she approached. Without a word, she pulled him into a tight embrace. tal fingers curled around his back, warm from her body heat.
"Thank you," she whispered, the words trembling just slightly. "Thank you for being you."
Vaeliyan blinked. That was not what he expected.
She took a shaky breath.
"What they said earlier… it hurt. People always talk shit about my choice not to replace my arms with organic ones. They think these prosthetics an I am broken, or less than them. They cannot imagine soone choosing this."
She stepped back just enough to look him in the eyes. Her expression was raw, unguarded.
"But you never judged . None of you did. And that ans more than I know how to say."
Vaeliyan returned the hug without hesitation, pulling her close again.
"Whatever decision you make, Lessa, is yours. These assholes do not know anything about you. You are strong. You are brilliant. You are aweso. Do not forget that."
Lessa pushed him away gently with one prosthetic hand, her face brightening into a mischievous grin.
"I am so fucking glad I t you. You are chaos in a bottle, and it is fun being your friend."
Vaeliyan snorted.
"You too. Would not survive half these days without you."
Her grin softened into sothing sincere.
"Good. Because you are stuck with . And Momo. And the rest of us. That is your problem now."
She turned toward the door, pausing only long enough to glance back at him.
"We will be ho soon. Your estate awaits, and then we can all crash for a bit before things get interesting again."
Vaeliyan nodded, watching as she left. The door closed behind her.
The room felt warr. Safer. His squad had his back. Whatever ca next… they would face it together.
Chi’s voice ca through the Boltfire comms, casual but edged with a tension that cut clean through the room.
"We are over Mara. Landing in a mont. Then we get the fuck out of this nightmare and rest for a while. We all need it."
There was a short pause, just long enough to suggest she was deciding whether to keep going.
"After that… maybe we figure out what that thing in the park was. The one that stared you down. I have not stopped thinking about it, Vaeliyan. You said sothing was there, and you were not just spooked."
Her voice grew quieter, serious in a way she rarely allowed.
"If sothing was watching you, and it felt angry, then pretending it does not matter would be the dumbest thing any of us could do. We have enough enemies without adding so mysterious creep lurking in a garden. I do not like that it slipped past everyone. I do not like that it got that close."
The last line ca out lower, almost like a warning.
"So, once we are back on solid ground and we get so rest, we are going to deal with that. All of us. Because if sothing out there wants you dead… I think we all would want to know why."
The Boltfire touched down in the park behind Vaeliyan’s estate. The mont the ramp lowered, everyone moved quickly, eager to escape the stink of blood, politics, and judgnt.
Vaeliyan shifted back into Warren as soon as he crossed the property line. His breathing eased the second his boots hit the familiar grass. The estate grounds slled like oak, clean air, and the faint sweetness of blooming night flowers. Ho.
He rolled his shoulders and stretched out stiffness that had nothing to do with muscles. His bones ached from tension more than combat. He wanted sleep. Real sleep. No skills. No vigilance. No watching the shadows.
Inside, the house lights ward automatically, greeting him with soft gold. House kept the temperature perfect without him needing to ask. Everything felt calm again.
He dragged himself into the bedroom. Wren lay sprawled across the bed in a position no human should have found comfortable, one foot kicked free of the blanket, an arm thrown over a pillow like she had been wrestling it. She snored loud enough that the floor vibrated.
House kindly dampened the noise for the rest of the estate, but Warren could still feel the rumble against his chest as he stood near her.
He smiled before he even realized it.
He moved quietly, removing each piece of clothing with practiced care. Boots aligned together by the wall. Shirt folded and placed exactly where it belonged. His yellow jacket, he handled last, smoothing the fabric with his palms before hanging it in its designated place in the closet, secured behind reinforced glass and tal. Even exhausted, he refused disorder. Routine steadied him. When he finally settled onto the nanite cloud that ford their bed, its surface reshaped gently to support him.
Wren shifted instantly as if sensing his presence.
She curled into him like she had been waiting the whole ti. Her head found its place under his chin. Her hand pressed against his chest as if making sure he was real.
"You are back," she breathed, half trapped in sleep. "How was it?"
Warren kissed her forehead, brushing a strand of hair out of her face.
"Let us just say I am happy to be ho."
Her fingers tightened on his shirt.
"Good," she murmured, already drifting deeper. "You stayed alive again. That is my favorite thing you do."
The corner of his mouth lifted.
He closed his eyes. For the first ti all day, his heartbeat felt normal.
Styll slipped silently into the room, her silver fur shimring faintly in the low light. She scrambled up onto the bed and curled tightly against Warren’s side, pressing her head into his ribs like she never planned to move.
Bastard padded in after her in his compact house-cat form, calm and silent as ever. He leapt up and settled across the top of Warren’s head, his usual spot, like a scaly crown of nace and loyalty.
Warren finally drifted off.
A floating disc glided into the room, silent and unbothered by mortal needs like sleep. It eased onto the bed near Warren’s feet, nestling against him like a loyal, if mildly murderous, dog. Its surface dimd as it powered down for the night.
Tomorrow would bring more problems.
Tonight, he had his wife in his arms.
And that made everything bearable.
Mondenkind did not wake Warren. She could have dragged him deeper into mory, demanded growth, demanded toil. She could have forced him to face the next horror waiting in his soul. But after everything they had endured, she chose rcy. She let him rest, a true rest, dreamless and unstirred, while she curled quiet within him as the stillness of his soul.
Morning arrived with a low rumble beneath the estate. It shook the ground like sothing huge was turning in its sleep below. Warren blinked awake, heart calm for the first ti in days. He sat up slowly, taking a mont to appreciate the simple victory of peace.
Wren was already gone, likely tending to Belle. He missed her warmth but smiled, knowing she would be close.
He rose from the nanite cloud bed. Every motion as he dressed was neat and intentional. Shirt straightened. Jacket smoothed. The yellow coat placed with exact precision. Order helped him breathe.
Styll scrambled from the pillow and hopped straight into the inside pocket of his jacket. Bastard padded along the floor in his compact form, silent and sure, tail flicking with slow confidence.
The door opened and warm light guided them to the kitchen.
Elian waited at the counter with a cup in hand.
"Good morning," he said.
Warren exhaled, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "What is going on?"
"The tunnelers have arrived. The forge will have full power in about an hour. We are nearly ready." Elian Smiled.
Warren nodded once, energy beginning to stir.
"Good."
House’s voice chid politely from the walls.
"Once power is restored, the lock-down protocols will be cleared. Thank you for your patience, Master Warren."
Warren offered a tired smile. "Thank you, House. And sorry for nearly crashing us before."
"Your excitent was understandable," House replied.
Warren stepped outside into the crisp air. Forr instructors and a handful of his people were gathered near the park. They quieted the mont he approached.
The Rock strode over, massive hands dwarfed by the cookie he carried.
"Imujin said to give you this."
Warren accepted it, amused. "I do not think I will need it this ti. I know what I must do. But I appreciate the thought."
He made his way to the clearing. The sky arched above in bright blue silence. He sat cross‑legged in the grass and closed his eyes.
With Mondenkind’s guidance, he sank inward. Not into her mories. But into the place where his monster lived.
Byssus awaited him: the corpse that had been Vaeliyan's Soul Skill and now was the veil for Mondenkind. The storm inside it churned and coiled like a living tempest.
Warren stepped forward.
"Hello."
The corpse did not move, yet he felt greeted. Energy rippled around him, curious and wary.
He steadied his focus.
"What do you fear?"
The answer ca like a chill from beneath the grave.
"I fear that I am dead. I fear that I am not yours."
Warren turned toward the storm that lived inside Byssus, swirling like thought and lightning.
"Storm. Mondenkind. Rain Dancer. Tell what you fear."
The crackling reply ca at once.
"I fear nothing. And that is what I fear. I fear a void where fear should be. A hollow place. A throne with no power."
Warren frowned.
"That is not a real answer. What do you fear?"
The storm raged, pressure building.
"I told you. I have nothing to fear."
Warren stepped closer, refusing to be pushed back.
"That is not an answer. What do you fear?"
The storm recoiled, suddenly unsure.
"Would you want to be less?"
Warren’s voice softened.
"You are not less. Fear does not make you weak. Fear makes you whole."
Lightning pulled tight around itself, concentrating inward.
A whisper of thunder.
"I fear your hollow heart."
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